Southern Company reported net income of $375 million or 55 cents a share for the three months ending Sept. 30, 1997, compared with $468 million or 69 cents a share for the third quarter of 1996, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer A.W. Dahlberg announced today.

“The windfall profit tax assessed against our South Western Electricity subsidiary in the United Kingdom caused a one-time charge in the third quarter, reducing earnings by $119 million or about 17 cents per share,” Dahlberg said. Earnings for the third quarter would have been $494 million without the tax.

The directors of Southern Company also met today and declared a regular quarterly dividend of 32½ cents a share on the company’s common stock, payable Dec. 6 to stockholders of record Nov. 3. This marks the 200th consecutive quarter — dating back to 1948 — that Southern Company will have paid a dividend to its common shareholders.

Revenues for the third quarter of 1997 were $4.1 billion, compared with $2.9 billion in 1996.

Earnings for the nine months ending Sept. 30, 1997, were $777 million or $1.14 a share, compared with $988 million or $1.47 per share for the same period in 1996. Revenues for the same period were $9.4 billion, compared with $7.9 billion in 1996.

Earnings for the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 1997, were $916 million or $1.35 a share, compared with $1.15 billion or $1.71 a share for the 12-month period ending Sept. 30, 1996. Revenues for the same period were $11.8 billion, compared with $10.2 billion.

Reviewing operations, Dahlberg said electricity use by retail customers in Southern Company`s service area decreased 0.2 percent to 101.5 billion kilowatt-hours during the first nine months of 1997, compared with the same period in 1996.

In-home electricity needs were down 5.2 percent to 30.3 billion kilowatt-hours. Electricity consumption by commercial customers — offices, stores, and other non-manufacturing firms — gained 1.3 percent to 29.6 billion kilowatt-hours. Industrial energy use increased 2.8 percent to 40.9 billion kilowatt-hours.

Total sales of electricity to customers of Southern Company — including sales to other utilities — were up 0.1 percent to 118.1 billion kilowatt-hours for the first three quarters of 1997, compared with the same period in 1996.

Southern Company (NYSE: SO), the largest producer of electricity in the United States, is the parent firm of Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power and Savannah Electric. Based in Atlanta, Southern Company supplies electricity in nine countries on four continents and provides energy-related marketing, trading and technical services and wireless telecommunications. Southern Company’s common stock is one of the 20 most widely held corporate stocks in America.